Oscar picks

The Academy had their say last weekend, but here's what I'd select for the top film achievements of 2006.

With the caveat that I have yet to see: Running with Scissors, The Good German, The Illusionist, Sweet Land, Old Joy, Factotum, Fast Food Nation, Find Me Guilty, Kinky Boots, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Infamous, Miami Vice and some significant foreign films including Curse of the Golden Flower, Clean, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Water, Duck Season, Three Times and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.

I also haven't seen enough of the contenders to properly consider a feature length documentary or animated film category (though right now I'd go along with Oscar's choices in each—An Inconvenient Truth and Happy Feet).

Ensemble Cast
The Dead Girl
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Friends with Money
The Good Shepherd

A category Oscar doesn't have, but might as well. There were several high quality ensemble-driven films released last year and all of my choices were brimming with talent, even in small roles.

Winner: Dreamgirls

Foreign Language Film
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Tsotsi
Volver

It's impossible to consider this category the same way Oscar does, with one submission each from countries worldwide. I'll just stick to films in a foreign language released during 2006. That gives me two films nominated in Oscar's corresponding category (Lives and Pan's), one that should've been (Volver), last year's Oscar winner (Tsotsi) and a Best Picture nominee (Letters).

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Adapted Screenplay
Casino Royale
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Little Children

Not exactly the strongest year on record in this category, nothing against my top choice or runner-up Little Children.

Winner: The Departed

Original Screenplay
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
Stranger Than Fiction
Volver

Only one American screenplay in this mix, it was a year for foreign product to shine.

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Best Supporting Actor
Sergi López (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
Michael Sheen (The Queen)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

Yes, I do consider Oscar's Best Actor a supporting player, but a worthy nominee in any case. There were a few other strong contenders for this list but that only includes Little Children's Jackie Earle Haley from Oscar's selections.

Winner: Michael Sheen (The Queen)

Best Supporting Actress
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Vera Farmiga (The Departed)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Emma Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction)
Kerry Washington (The Dead Girl)

The year's most competitive category, in addition to two other actresses from The Dead Girl—Marcia Gay Harden and Mary Beth Hurt—performances I'm forced to omit, despite their worthiness, are Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth), Carmen Maura (Volver), Juliette Binoche (Breaking and Entering), Adrianna Barazza (Babel), Frances de la Tour (The History Boys), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Stranger Than Fiction and World Trade Center), Eva Green (Casino Royale) and Frances McDormand (Friends with Money).

Winner: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Oscar got this one just about right, it was pretty difficult to ignore the incredible work of Cruz, Dench, Mirren and Winslet. Mol was the one who slipped through the cracks in a low-grossing indie released early in the year, but her performance was charming and touching, every bit the equal of those other four leading ladies. Still, Oscar got the winner right too.

Winner: Helen Mirren (The Queen)

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others)
Patrick Wilson (Little Children)

Oh the pain, the unfortunate blunder, of DiCaprio's Oscar nomination for the wrong film. That goof cost the Academy the opportunity to recognize the performance of the year. And so Gosling became the most deserving nominee while Wilson remained Little Children's most undervalued player, Mühe languished in foreign language obscurity and Ferrell found little respect for his dialed-down delivery of the year's best comedic performance.

Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)

Best Director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others)
George Miller (Happy Feet)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

As much as I'd like to throw a curveball in here, I can't omit any of the directors of my five favorite films. Each demonstrated an equally strong command of actors, craft and storytelling. If I could consider two films in one then Clint Eastwood would have to make the cut for the combination of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.

Winner: Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)

Best Picture
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Happy Feet
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth

Yep, they're still my favorites.

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

And technical categories...

Art Direction/Production Design
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pan’s Labyrinth

Winner: Children of Men

Costume Design
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Marie Antoinette
The Notorious Bettie Page
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Winner: Dreamgirls

Editing
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Inside Man
Little Children

Winner: The Departed

Make-Up
The Hills Have Eyes
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score
The Lives of Others
The Painted Veil
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Volver

Winner: The Painted Veil

Original Song
The Book I Write (Stranger Than Fiction)
Call the Law (Idlewild)
I Need To Wake Up (An Inconvenient Truth)
Listen (Dreamgirls)
Song of the Heart (Happy Feet)

I scrapped this category last year due to a lack of worthy contenders (or at least my inability to find them) but it's dramatically different this year. I even had to leave things off this list. Not just the other Oscar nominated Dreamgirls songs (which are solid in the film but a bit thin outside of it), but even better tracks like: Sheryl Crow's Cars contribution "Real Gone"; "In the End," the rousing closing number from indie Shortbus; and Ben Folds' gentle lullaby "Still" from Over the Hedge (a film I've yet to see).

Winner: Listen (Dreamgirls)

Visual Effects
Charlotte’s Web
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Superman Returns

Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest